Ricin Charges Are Dropped

Mississippi Man Suspected of Sending Letters to Obama and Senator Is Released

ENLARGE

Paul Kevin Curtis, above left, who had been accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, hugs his attorney, Christi McCoy, following his release from custody on Tuesday in Oxford, Miss.
Oxford Eagle/Associated Press

By

Devlin Barrett and

Cameron McWhirter

Updated April 23, 2013 8:02 p.m. ET

The U.S. dropped charges against a Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President
Barack Obama
and a U.S. senator, and federal agents searched the house of an acquaintance with whom the man said he had a bitter dispute, in a major turn of events in the high-profile case.

A federal judge signed a court order Tuesday dismissing the case against
Paul Kevin Curtis,
45 years old, "without prejudice,'' meaning that prosecutors could, in theory, reinstate the charges later if they found more evidence.

The court documents offer little explanation for why the charges were dropped, saying only that "the ongoing investigation has revealed new information.''

Paul Kevin Curtis, the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama, a U.S. senator and a state judge, addressed the media Tuesday after all charges against him were dropped.

After Mr. Curtis's release from federal custody in Oxford, Miss., on Tuesday, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the Tupelo, Miss., home of J. Everett Dutschke.

Mr. Dutschke was named this week by Mr. Curtis's lawyer as the person embroiled in a dispute with Mr. Curtis.

A law-enforcement official said the FBI is now probing the apparent feud between the two men to see if that explains the letters sent to Washington.

ENLARGE

Meanwhile, FBI agents, above, search a house in Tupelo, Miss., for clues in last week's attack.
Daily Journal/Reuters

Mr. Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said her client was "cooperating fully" with agents and had allowed them to search his home. She said her client hasn't done anything wrong and hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.

Mr. Dutschke, the owner of Tupelo Taekwondo Plus, ran as a Republican for the state House of Representatives in 2007 and lost. Mr. Dutschke was arrested this January on charges of molesting, child molesting and indecent exposure involving three girls under the age of 16. Those cases are pending. His attorney said he had pleaded not guilty.

Like Mr. Curtis, Mr. Dutschke is a musician. He fronts a local band called Dusty and the RoboDrum.

It was unclear how the FBI appears to have gotten the wrong man in a case that erupted last week, in the tense days after the Boston Marathon bombing. The FBI didn't return calls seeking comment on the turn of events in the case.

Letters addressed to President Obama and the U.S. Senate have, in preliminary results, tested positive for ricin. How does ricin kill people? Where does ricin come from? Who has used it as a weapon? WSJ's Jason Bellini has "The Short Answer." Photo: Getty Images

Mr. Curtis, an Elvis Presley impersonator who was charged last week with sending the letters, thanked friends, family, fans and Jesus on Tuesday afternoon after being released from federal custody in Oxford. Mr. Curtis told reporters he was bewildered when federal agents first began questioning him about the possibly poisoned letters: "I thought they said rice, so I said I don't even eat rice.''

The former defendant thanked the recipients of two of the letters, Sen.
Roger Wicker
(R., Miss.) and Mr. Obama.

"I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official,'' Mr. Curtis said of Mr. Obama. "This past week has been a nightmare for myself and my family. My mother has suffered as well as my children.''

"We are just thrilled," said
Christi McCoy,
his attorney, who thanked federal agents for "professionalism" in dealing with her client.

"I don't want people to look at this as, oh, a huge mistake or whatever," she said. "They went where the evidence led at the time and then they realized it was a dead end."

Also on Tuesday, the Defense Intelligence Agency investigated a case of possible biological agents being concealed in mail sent to the agency at its Bolling Air Force Base Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

However, he said, after a further "thorough on-scene investigation, no suspicious packages or letters were located."

The FBI is conducting further testing off-site.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Tuesday that the toxin might be ricin.

Lt. Col. Veale declined to comment on whether the substance was believed to be ricin. "DIA has maintained normal operations, and will not comment further on this event until an investigation is complete," he said.

Whether the Bolling incident has any connection to the earlier letters wasn't immediately known.

—Siobhan Gorman contributed to this article.

Corrections & Amplifications Jeff Woodfin is chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service in Oxford. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled his last name.

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